Fordham Rams
Overall Rank: #43
Conference Rank: #1 Atlantic 10
Fordham Team Page
This is the 11th season for head coach Bridget Orchard, who led the Rams to the Atlantic-10 regular season and tournament championships in 2011 and advanced to the NCAA Regional. Keys to the Rams’ success were solid pitching and defense. They ranked fifth in the NCAA in defense with a .979 fielding percentage, making only 34 errors in 61 games while the pitching staff had a team ERA of 1.72 to rank 16th in Division One. The Rams will play 56 games with 15 scheduled at renovated Bahoshy Field. The Rams will play 11 NCAA Tourney teams with Arizona, UCLA, California and Alabama on the schedule. Fordham lost to Alabama 3-1 in 2011.
2011: 41-19, 16-4
2011 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Bridget Orchard
Field Players:
Eight starters return from 2011 including leading hitter Nicole Callahan (.352), plus third-team All-America pitcher Jen Mineau, along with All Atlantic 10 honorees Jamie LaBovick (P/IF) and Gabby Luety (C). Five seniors graduated including ECAC Player of the Year, third baseman Jocelyn Dearborn, who batted .350, hit 16 homers, 11 doubles and drove in 44 runs in 61 games. She set or tied four season records and had a .725 slugging percentage and an on base percentage of .407. Also graduating were Samantha Pellechio (.282), Beckah Wiggins (.275), Meghan Shager (.151) and Chelsea Plimpton, who fashioned a 17-10 record on the mound with 2.22 ERA. The Rams lost four of their top six hitters who accounted for 31 homers and 113 RBI. Orchard is hoping her seven incoming freshmen, Samantha Smith (OF), Michelle Daubman, (IF/P) Kayla Lombardo (IF/C), Serena Moroukian, (OF), Taylor Pirone (P), Brianna Turgeon (IF) and Paige Ortiz (IF) develop to fill the void left by the graduating seniors.
Pitchers:
Mineau will headline the pitching staff after compiling a 24-9 record in 2011 with 4 saves, 15 shutouts and an ERA of 1.22. She won 14 straight games between April 3 and May 21 and had a scoreless inning streak of 81.2 innings before giving up three runs against Penn State in the NCAA Regional (5-21). The 5-9 right-hander had an 8:1 ratio of strikeouts to walks (300 strikeouts, 38 walks). She already is the Rams’ career leader in complete games, wins, shutouts and strikeouts after three years and will only add to them in her senior year. The Rams will need one of the freshmen pitchers, Pirone and Daubman, to develop to help Mineau in the circle.
Final Projection:
The Rams will again need solid pitching and defense if they are to repeat as Atlanta-10 champs and earn another NCAA berth. They will lack power, and need one of the incoming freshmen to emerge as a No. 2 pitcher behind Mineau, who ranked 16th in the NCAA in strikeouts per seven innings (9.3).
Projected Postseason: NCAA
Returning Leaders:
At Bats: Jamie LaBovick, P/IF, 179
Hits: Nicole Callahan, IF, 58
Home Runs: Gabby Luety, C, 8
RBIs: Chelsea Palumbo, IF, 30
Runs: Jamie Labovick, P/IF, 30
Stolen Bases: Lindsey Kay Bright, OF, 13
Wins: Jen Mineau, P, 24
Innings Pitched: Jen Mineau, P, 224.2
Strikeouts: Jen Mineau, P, 300
Saves: Jen Mineau, P, 4
Madness 2012 NPF Draft Rankings:
#8 Jen Mineau
